The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Thomas CarlyleRead
The meaning of song goes deep. Who in logical words can explain the effect music has on us? A kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the infinite, and lets us for a moment gaze into that!
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the profound and indescribable impact of music on human experience.
Thomas Carlyle's quote emphasizes that the essence of music transcends rational explanation, capturing emotions and experiences that are deeply felt but difficult to articulate. Music acts as a bridge to a deeper understanding, allowing listeners to connect with something beyond themselves, often leading to moments of profound reflection and insight.
Themes
MusicEmotionsImpactInarticulateExperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the power of art, I included this quote to illustrate music's unique role in expressing emotions.
More from Thomas Carlyle
All quotes →Thirty millions, mostly fools.
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There is a great discovery still to be made in literature, that of paying literary men by the quantity they do not write.
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For the superior morality, of which we hear so much, we too would desire to be thankful: at the same time, it were but blindness to deny that this superior morality is properly rather an inferior criminality, produced not by greater love of Virtue, but by greater perfection of Police; and of that far subtler and stronger Police, called Public Opinion.
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Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil; it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
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Clean undeniable right, clear undeniable might: either of these once ascertained puts an end to battle. All battle is a confused experiment to ascertain one and both of these.
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